


This Is A Team-Bonding Excercise?

by rebelmeg



Series: Rebelmeg's Tony Stark Bingo 2018 [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Gen, Manicures & Pedicures, Spa Treatments, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 01:59:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17050928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg
Summary: Tony takes the Avengers to his favorite spa for pedicures!  Mixed reactions ensue.





	This Is A Team-Bonding Excercise?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SyoshoHiataki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyoshoHiataki/gifts), [rudearrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudearrow/gifts), [Flight_Of_Icarus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flight_Of_Icarus/gifts), [Menatiera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/gifts), [Faustess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faustess/gifts), [TheKitteh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKitteh/gifts), [rinnwrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinnwrites/gifts), [camichats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/gifts), [deathsweetqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathsweetqueen/gifts), [TT_Angst_Queen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TT_Angst_Queen/gifts), [sleepoverwork](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepoverwork/gifts).



> First of all, this is what happens when you start spinning ideas on the WI Discord. Suddenly you have half a fic written in the comments and writing the rest of it is an irresistible idea. Hence, Avengers getting pedicures is suddenly a thing.
> 
> YES, all of the nail techs are based on real people (the culprits in the idea spinning and those who also wanted in on the fun). You may recognize a name or two.
> 
> The Bethany thing that Natasha talks about is a WI Discord running joke involving a Hydra agent named Bethany, who is a LulaRoe seller and collaborates with Tupperware salesman Hydra Bill (housewives have the best gossip, Hydra is cashing in on that). Someday one of us is gonna have to fic it, because it's hilarious.
> 
> This is also a bingo fill for TSB! Square K2: off the record. Yeah, I know, it's a bit of a stretch, just be glad I didn't try to use the "historical" prompt to mean like.... MIT Bros shenanigans in the 70's.

Steve looked doubtfully up at the brushed metal sign over the door of the spa that Tony had brought them all to. “I don’t think this really counts as a team bonding exercise.”

“Sure it does.” Tony opened the door and waved them all inside. “We’ll just leave the pedicure part off the record. Come on, inside, don't let all the warm air out.”

They all filed inside, a spacious lobby lined along the walls with shelves displaying all kinds and colors of beauty products. A smiling receptionist with burgundy hair greeted them, a black tunic with the name “Shyann” stitched on it. 

“Welcome back, Mr. Stark! We’re just getting the room ready for you, did you have a definite count for us?” She had obviously seen Tony before, and he was grinning at her as he sauntered to the counter, leaning against it on his elbow.

“Shyann, my dear, we have nine today. Picked up a couple extras that actually committed.”

Sam raised his eyebrow at Tony, but Bucky glared. He just winked and then proceeded to ignore both of them.

“Perfect. Billed to the same card?”

“Yep.” He picked up a pen and bounced the end of it on the glossy counter. “Still moonlighting as an assassin?”

“You bet.” She shot a grin up at him and snickered when she saw Steve, Clint, and Bucky all snap around to look at her in surprise. She tapped some information into the computer, then pressed a button on the phone. A chime echoed from down the hall off to the left, and a woman with black hair wearing a black tunic stitched with the name “Mei” came to the lobby. 

“Welcome to the Sugar Maple Spa! It’s wonderful to see you again Mr. Stark, and Colonel Rhodes. If you’ll all please follow me.”

Steve, Clint, and Sam all looked around at Rhodey in surprise, but he just smirked and shrugged unashamedly as he followed Tony.

Tony strolled along beside Mei, leading the rest of the Avengers and Co. with his hands in his pockets and chatting with the spa worker.

“No Miss Potts today, Mr. Stark?”

“Not today, my Mei. Team building exercise, y’know.”

She nodded, glancing over her shoulder at the collection of mostly men behind her. “I can see that.”

“How’s your family?” Tony clearly knew this woman as well as he knew the receptionist, and he wasn’t following her lead down the hall so much as walking in step with her like he knew very well which door they were heading to, chatting easily.

Natasha situated herself next to Tony as they were shown into a small locker room to put their shoes, coats, and valuables in. “This is the spa Pepper likes.”

Tony scoffed, “No, this is the spa _I_ like that I tuned Pepper into.”

Natasha grinned as she stashed her shoes and a few knives in a locker and took a pair of soft, cushioned socks from the basket next to the lockers. “Should have guessed.”

“Once you’re done in here, there’s a lounge just across the hall. Feel free to help yourselves to anything in there, including the robes, and we’ll have the pedicure room ready for you in just a few minutes.” Mei excused herself and Tony led the way into the lounge, a room only lit by the glass-covered fireplace in the corner, surrounded by plushly cushioned armchairs and sofas. A table across from the fireplace had bowls of nuts, dried fruit, and dark chocolate chips, with two large glass water dispensers with cucumbers and citrus slices floating in with the ice.

It was easy to tell how everyone felt about the situation. Half of them spread themselves around the room with relative ease, while the other half just kind of lingered awkwardly. 

Rhodey had definitely been there before, he went right for the cabinet next to the sofa Tony had perched on with a cup of snacks and rifled through the magazines inside. Thor was on his second refill of snacks, and Natasha was curled up in a chair by the fire, wrapped up in a robe. Bruce was next to Tony looking sleepy, Clint and Bucky were examining every inch of the room from where they were standing on opposite ends, and Steve was regarding everything with suspicion. 

Sam patted Steve's shoulder as he passed him and stole a magazine from Rhodey, “Take a chill pill, man, you’re supposed to relax.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been to a spa before?”

“Sure. Gotta take care of yourself, ya know.” He wiggled his socked toes. “And feet are important.”

Thor nodded from the snack table (fourth refill), “A warrior stands on his feet, they are due the utmost care and respect, my friend. This is a worthy team bonding experience.”

That seemed to loosen the tension in Steve’s shoulders slightly. “They used to say something like that in the Army, the foot thing.”

“Still do, bro.” Sam grabbed a cashew from Thor’s cup as the demigod walked by, popping it into his mouth.

“We’re ready for you, if you’d like to follow me,” Mei was back, and she beckoned them to follow her with a smile.

The pedicure room was long and narrow, with throne-like cushioned seats set up against the walls. Large stainless steel basins with taps were directly below the seats, halfway filled with warm water and orange slices, and large padded square ottomans were arranged in front of every seat for the nail technicians to sit on. A line of techs were already waiting for them, and soon everyone was up on their thrones with their bare feet resting in the basins of water. Rhodey, Tony, Bruce and Thor were against one wall, with Bucky, Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Clint across from them on the other side.

As they got situated, the nail technicians each chose an Avenger and got to work. Rhodey had begun chatting with his tech, a dark-haired Indian woman named Simi, right away, and she was obviously familiar with him.

“Still like it scalding hot?” She asked, turning the hot water handle on the tap to fill the basin the rest of the way.

“Boil the skin right off my feet, yes.” Rhodey said, sighing with pleasure as hot water poured in and sent the orange slices swirling. “Like the very devil took a whiz in my basin.”

Tony, seated to his left, swatted at him, making an affronted noise. “You’re disgusting.”

Rhodey shrugged and turned back to the page he’d been on in his magazine. “It’s okay, Simi still loves me.”

“He’s impossible.” Tony directed at Elise, his own nail tech. “Isn’t he?”

“Absolutely, just impossible.” A smile was flickering on the edges of the brunette's mouth, and Rhodey chuckled when she shot him a wink.

Tony smacked him again. “Stop flirting with my nail tech, you have your own!”

Across from Rhodey, Bucky was watching his nail tech, Icarus, with a cross between suspicion and curiosity in his eyes as she adjusted the temperature of the water pouring into his basin. 

It seemed pretty clear, however, that she had been told ahead of time what to expect from a defrosted and damaged supersoldier, because she was talked over everything that she would be doing, showing Bucky the tools she would be using and handing them to him to inspect, and asking him if he wanted to skip anything. The suspicion faded as she spoke, which made way for the curiosity hovering in Bucky’s eyes, and after a little while he was leaning forward with interest and asking questions.

“I’ll let you know before I do anything, and check in to make sure you’re still comfortable with everything.” Icarus looked up at Bucky and smiled gently. “You’re in charge, okay?”

A measure of tension eased from Bucky’s shoulders, and he smiled back. “I like you.” 

She beamed back, looking pleased.

At the opposite end of the row of seats, Clint’s nail tech, Ru, had made an interesting discovery when the archer had all but leapt out of his seat and squeaked when she went to lift his foot out of the basin to fix the stopper that wasn’t sitting correctly.

Ru looked up at Clint over the edge of her glasses, her eyebrows raised over blue eyes. “You’re ticklish, aren’t you?”

Natasha’s voice was slow and relaxed in the seat next to his as she swirled her feet in the steaming water. “Extremely so.”

Looking like she had to bite back a giggle, Ru motioned for Clint to put his feet back in the basin. “This will be an interesting experience for you, I’m sure.”

Natasha’s nail tech, Olive, was biting back a laugh as she set out a towel for Natasha to put her feet on. “Okay, feet will go on here when we're ready. I love your leggings, by the way! I have the same ones.” 

Natasha looked down at her nail tech with slightly narrowed eyes. “You don’t by chance go by the name Bethany, do you?”

Olive looked confused. “Nope, just Olive.”

“Do you get your leggings from a woman named Bethany?”

The poor woman was starting to look worried at the interrogative questions. “No, just a friend of a friend, Trisha.”

“Oh. That’s alright then.” Natasha closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cushion, setting her feet on the towel. "Think I could get a manicure too? I forgot to ask Tony."

"Uh, sure." Shaking her head a little bit in bewilderment, Olive checked the temperature of the water and turned the tap off.

“Don’t feel bad, she likes to scare people.” Sam was on Natasha’s other side, and he grinned at Olive, then said in a stage whisper, “It’s the assassin thing.”

“We’ll be sure to avoid anything suspicious then,” Sam’s tail tech, Cami, quipped, sliding a cover over the emptying basin and setting out her tools on the flat surface. “No blades and grenades today, everyone.”

“Awww.”

Steve was on Sam's other side, and his eyes widened at the chorus of disappointment from the nail techs. His nail tech, Mena, couldn’t help the laugh that snuck out. She bit her lip when he glared down at her, but Sam smacked his arm to get him to stop.

" _Relax_ , man, holy crap."

General chatter and banter filled the room as the nail technicians worked and kept their respective Avengers entertained, the superheroes that hadn’t been to a spa before taking their cues from the pros. All except Bruce, that is.

His nail technician, Kit, had just finished laying out her tools for the next part of the pedicure, when she looked up at Bruce. She laughed softly as she shook a stray lock of auburn hair out of her face. He had fallen asleep.

“Mr. Stark,” She got his attention and pointed at Bruce. “Should I leave him be?”

“Hey!” Tony reached out and swatted at Bruce, making him jump a bit as he jerked awake, his feet banging around in the now-empty basin. “It’s rude to fall asleep with your naked feet hanging out!”

“It’s ruder to startle me awake!” Clearly though, no Hulk-emergence was imminent, and a few minutes later Kit had Bruce’s promise that as long as she didn’t do anything weird or painful, to just carry on if he fell asleep again.

“That’s what midnight science does to you,” Tony sighed, giving Bruce a chastening look. “Makes you too tired to appreciate the best pedicures money can buy from the best staff a Stark can charm.”

A chorus of giggles and _awww_ ’s around the room didn’t drown out the flat look Bruce sent Tony. “And whose fault was the midnight science.”

Tony was not even a bit ashamed. “Mine, but I’m obviously better at it, I’m awake.”

Bruce mumbled something about caffeine and hyperactivity, but Tony ignored him and within five minutes Bruce had fallen asleep again, not even blinking when Kit put one foot back down and picked up the other one.

Thor had completely relaxed into his role as pampered guest. He was literally sprawled all over his pillow throne, arms out to the side and eyes closed as his nail tech, Meg, got to work with a nail file. “This must be what Valhalla is like. Such luxury as this can only be meant for the most heroic and pure of heart.”

Meg smirked, looking as if she had a whole lot to say about that, but she kept it to herself and just blandly replied, “Of course it is. We are innocent handmaidens of Valhalla.”

Several of the other nail techs snorted, and Ru let out an audible, "HA!" that made Clint squint at her.

Steve was back looking at his nail tech with deep suspicion. “What is that?”

She held up the large file. “This? It helps slough off the dead skin on your feet. It’s just a big nail file, really.”

Steve held a hand out for it, and Mena looked like she was biting back a smile as she handed it over. “Don’t touch the file part, it’s been disinfected.”

He inspected the file like it was going to transform into some kind of weapon at any moment, then finally handed it back. “Okay.”

She was still trying not to smile. “You good?”

Steve nodded curtly. “Yes. Go ahead.”

Mena was turning slightly red from trying so hard to hold back her laugh, but she managed it.

Bucky shot Steve a sidelong glance, a hint of a grin flickering at the corner of his mouth. "How am I handling this better than you are, punk?"

Steve just scowled at him and muttered, "Jerk." under his breath.

A few minutes later, the receptionist from the front, Shyann, came into the room wheeling a cart. “Snacks, anyone?”

Tony sat up straighter and made grabby hands, into which she placed an already filled plate and a glass of champagne, his snack preferences clearly already well-known. She went around to the rest of them distributing apple slices dusted with cinnamon, chocolate-covered strawberries, dainty cookies, cups of seasoned nuts, and their choice of champagne, fizzy apple cider, or sparkling water. (Or, in Thor’s case, all three.)

The snacks were just about done and most of the first set of pedicure tools were being set aside when a new nail tech with the name “Rinn” stitched on her uniform came into the room. She greeted the others, then went over to Kit at Bruce’s seat. “Hey, thanks for covering for me!”

“No problem!” Kit replied, rolling up the towel her tools were on. “I just finished up, so great timing.”

Rinn was looking at Bruce and grinning. “You have the magic touch.”

Kit laughed back as she stood. “I’m just that good. Oh, given his current state, I was gonna forego the hot wax.”

Rinn giggled as she got her own tools out and got situated. “Yeah, probably a wise plan. Now go home to your kids and thank you!”

“Yep! Bye everyone!”

Kit left the room to a chorus of goodbyes and a few blown kisses, and Rinn took a moment to chuckle again at her sleeping client and got to work.

Over in the other corner, Icarus carefully moved an electric foot bath full of hot wax over to her station and set it down by Bucky's feet. “Okay, so we can either do this next bit with the wax or not, it’s up to you. Figured I’d let you check it out first and go from there. If you want to, we dip your feet in here, wrap them up in a plastic baggie, and let it sit for a bit while I clean these tools. What do you think?”

Bucky looked down at the clear pink liquid wax curiously, cocking his head slightly to the side. “How hot is that?”

“About 124 Fahrenheit, 51 Celsius.”

“That’s not bad.” He leaned over to dip his finger into the wax, testing the temperature and studying the way the wax cooled on his finger. “Yeah, it’s good. Let’s do it.”

“Alright, we’ll dip three times unless you want to be done sooner, okay?”

Bucky nodded, and seemed quite relaxed as Icarus did each foot. He didn’t wince at all, instead looking relatively relaxed, even as his feet were wrapped in plastic bags that were loosely secured around his ankle.

“Okay, while that sits, you need more snacks?”

Bucky considered his empty plate, and the little rolling buffet cart. “Yes. Yes I do.”

Icarus smiled as she stripped off her gloves and took his plate for a refill, and Ru collected the hot wax and took it down to the other end of the room. It was Clint’s turn, and he made sure all of them knew it by shrieking at the top of his lungs when it happened.

“THAT’S HOT!”

Ru looked simultaneously exasperated and amused, still holding his ankle over the pool of melted wax. “It’s _hot wax_!”

“BUT THAT’S REALLY HOT!”

Natasha reached over and smacked him, flecks of soapy soaking water from her soaking dish dotting his shirt. “Grow a pair, you wuss.” She already had her feet dipped and wrapped up in plastic baggies, and returned her hands to the soaking bowl.

Clint gave her a withering look. “A pair of what, exactly?”

“Ovaries. They’ll toughen you up.”

She got a fist bump from both Ru and Olive for that.

The hot wax slowly made the rounds, and soon everyone had plastic baggies on their wax-dipped feet (except for Bruce, who had a thick slathering of an emollient cream instead).

Thor and his tech Meg, were deep in conversation as she secured the baggies around his ankles, and Thor was apparently attempting to regale her with a story from his youth.

“And so with these two hands, I grabbed onto the two separate banks of the river, and with a mighty heave, I pulled it together until the river was no more.”

“Really? Huh.” Meg shot him a look then went back to her task.

Thor waved his hand in a casual manner. “It may be too awesome for mortal minds to comprehend. The magic of the other realms is quite a lot to understand.”

“Oh, no, that part I get.” She rolled up all her tools into the towel they had been sitting on. “I’m just calling bullshit on the whole thing.”

Thor’s jaw dropped and he nearly lost the bite of apple he’d just taken. “You think I jest?”

“No, I think you exaggerate.” Meg patted his leg consolingly. “But don’t worry, I am still very much impressed by your muscles.”

Thor made a sound that was very much like a _grump_ , sitting back and crossing his arms in quite a show of disgruntlement, but his eyes were twinkling.

As the nail techs clustered around the line of sinks at the far end of the room and worked on washing and sanitizing their tools, Mei came into the room and made the rounds with the snacks and beverages again. “Can’t have our superheroes being hungry, that would be cruel. Also, Mr. Stark, the cucumber slices you requested.”

He smiled up at her and turned on the charm as he accepted the small plate she held out. “Mei, you are a blessing upon this earth.”

That made her blush a truly endearing shade of pink, and once she was done distributing more chocolate covered strawberries and champagne to Rhodey, she rushed out of the room still blushing. Tony just smirked and put a couple of cucumber slices on Bruce’s already closed eyes, then his own, and shot off an email to Pepper that apparently didn't require eyesight.

Another few minutes of snacking and chatting, then it was time for the baggies and wax to come off.

"Oh, that's _weird_!" Steve and Bucky were both watching with slightly disturbed fascination as the wax was peeled off their feet almost like socks, and Sam snickered at the both of them.

“You wanna play with it?” Cami asked Sam as she balled up the malleable wax and held it out.

“Hell yes, this stuff makes my hands feel soft.”

She nodded wisely. “Girls like soft hands.”

“Too right, girl.”

Natasha slid Sam a glance out of the corner of her eye, and he just looked right back with an eyebrow raised.

“If you’re gonna make a comment, Romanoff, you might as well spit it out.”

She just shook her head and held her plate out to Olive silently, making a happy humming noise when she got it back filled with cinnamon apples. She saw Sam raising his eyebrow again out of the corner of her eye, and flipped him off. “Don’t judge me, Wilson.”

He smirked and went back to playing with the ball of wax as Cami got the rest of the pedicure supplies ready. “Wouldn’t dare to, Romanoff.”

“I need your hands back,” Olive said to Natasha, returning with a stack of nail polish samples on a silver ring. “We’ll push back your cuticles and then you can pick your colors.”

Natasha nodded and leaned her head back as she presented her hands (after popping another apple slice into her mouth).

Tony was also nearing the end of his pedicure.

“All done, or would you like a paint job today?” Elise asked, fanning out the nail samples for him to see.

Tony lifted up his cucumber slices and regarded her for a second, then grinned back and slouched comfortably against the cushions. “Oh, go on. Surprise me.”

“Last time you said that, Simi painted them in rainbow glitter.”

“Don’t call me out like that!” Simi laughed as she accepted the nail polish samples from Elise and handed them up to Rhodey.

“It was certainly a surprise.” Tony chuckled as he replaced the cucumber slices on his eyes. “You gonna do something fun this time, platypus?”

Rhodey’s lips were pursed as he looked the colors over. “Not sure. I got razzed pretty hard last time I showed up at work with painted nails.”

“You’re a big boy, you can handle it.”

“Sure, but it’s hard to look a general in the eye when he’s seen you in the locker room your skivvies with your toes painted bright blue.”

Tony guffawed so hard a cucumber slice slid off his face, prompting both Elise and Simi into a bit of a giggle fit.

Nail polish colors were being debated and chosen all around the room, except for Steve who seemed to be stymied as he looked at the myriad of colors.

“You want to do what?”

“I can paint your nails if you want,” Mena explained, handing over a ring of the polish samples.

“I… do I have to have them painted?”

Mena smiled at him and shook her head. “No, of course not. Only if you want to. Either way is just fine, and I can even do a clear matte coat if you want and no one will be able to tell you’ve got nail polish on at all. Or we can just do an oil rub on them and you’ll be done!”

Steve looked at the colors again, and the sample of the different clear polishes. “I guess… that clear matte one?” His cheeks were a little bit pink as he said it.

“Sounds good!” Mena took the color samples back and got what she needed from the supply cupboard across the room. “Alright, hold still and you’ll be done in just a minute.”

Bucky had decided against any polish, as had Rhodey, but Thor had selected red and silver, Clint was watching Ru paint his toes with the purple glitter Natasha had dared him to get, Sam had also picked a matte clear coat, and Natasha had a deep blood red on both fingers and toes as Olive applied a black matte polish to her ring fingers as an accent.

“Just about done,” Elise announced when everyone was finishing up, screwing the cap onto a bottle of pale blue polish she had used on Tony’s toes.

Tony burst out laughing when he took off his cucumber slices and saw his toes. “You are catering to my superhero persona, and I love you for it.”

Elise grinned, putting the finishing touches on the tiny round arc reactors painted on his big toes. “Red, gold, and a touch of glow. No going wrong there.”

Rinn had just finished with Bruce as well, and she patted his knee gently as she finished sliding the neon green flip flops onto his feet.

“Why can’t I—Why’s there cucumber slices on m’eyes?” Bruce slurred a little bit as he woke up, patting his face clumsily.

Tony shrugged and adjusted the hot-rod red flip-flops Elise had put on his feet. “They were closed anyway.”

Bruce took the cucumbers off and focused on the nail tech in front of him. “Uh… you’re… not the one I had before?”

Rinn grinned and shook her head. “No, I’m not. Kit was covering for me while I finished up with another client.”

“Oh. Huh. Alright then.” Bruce moved to put his cucumbers back on, but got a look at his feet first. Particularly his toes painted in shades of pink with detailed flowers on the big toes, complete with little sparkly gems. “Oh, Tony, screw you!”

Tony giggled like a child and ducked to avoid the cucumber slices flung at him. "I love that you know it was me!"

"Who else would it be?!" 

On Bruce’s other side, Meg finished adjusting the gray sandals on Thor’s feet and sat back to admire her handiwork, particularly the geometric silver patterns she'd done on his big toes. “There we go. Very pretty.”

Thor beamed at her, then once he stood he pulled her into what looked like a spine-realigning hug. “I deeply appreciate your efforts, Lady Meg. And I assure you, I shall return.”

Natasha was also done, and she sighed as she stood up on black flip flops and went to hand over her robe, obviously reluctant.

“Oh, no, you get to keep them if you’d like.” Olive assured her, “Same with the sandals. Mr. Stark arranged for those specially.”

With a sharp nod, Natasha put the robe back on, planted a kiss on her nail tech’s cheek, then one for Tony, and swanned out of the room with her arm linked through Thor’s, both of them walking on perfectly pampered feet.

Rhodey, Sam, Bucky, Steve, and Clint were checking out the flip flops Tony had apparently picked out for them, dark gray, dark red, black, royal blue, and a truly garish shade of purple.

“He’s either rude or he knows me too well.” Clint remarked, then shrugged and shuffled gingerly after Natasha and Thor, walking awkwardly as he tried to keep his toes from touching anything.

They all collected their belongings from the lockers, then filed into the lobby to leave.

Bucky looked around as the others pulled on their coats and gloves. “You know what, I like this place. This was good.”

Tony looked pleased at that (and perhaps just a smidge smug), while Steve looked shocked. 

“You did?!”

Bucky nodded and smiled. “I did. I could come again.”

“That could be arranged.” Tony said cheerfully, then blew a kiss to Cami and Shyann standing over at the counter. “We’ll be back, my darlings!”

A chorus of goodbyes came from the pedicure room as Cami and Shyann waved them all out, beaming.

Steve shrieked a little bit when some of the slushy snow outside flicked back on his bare toes as they headed for the cars. “Why did we do this in the middle of winter?!”

Tony, Rhodey, and Natasha, who were clearly practiced in the art of walking in the snow in flip-flops, looked over their shoulders with nearly identical shit-eating grins.

"Brace yourself, Capsicle, because we're going to get ice cream next!"

Steve looked like he wanted to wail a little bit. "It's _December_!"

"Yeah, and that means peppermint ice cream!"


End file.
